Yulong were forced to dig deep to fight off fierce competition for the right to take the 6-year-old home, but eventually secured the mare after outlasting underbidder Cambridge Stud, who formerly stood the mare's sire, Tavistock (NZ), until his untimely death in 2019.
It was the latest in a series of significant Gavelhouse Plus purchases for Yulong, who also played a headline role during the Valachi Downs dispersals earlier in the year – going to NZ$1.75 million to buy outstanding broodmare Baggy Green (Galileo {Ire}), while they also forked out NZ$460,000 for her yearling filly by Ocean Park (NZ).
Yulong’s Chief Operating Officer, Sam Fairgray said they had been keen to secure Entriviere given her high-class race record and the fact she is by Tavistock, who is proving himself to be a good broodmare sire.
Entriviere (NZ) | Image courtesy of Gavelhouse Plus
“She’s obviously a Group 1 winner in New Zealand and landed a Group 2 in Australia, she’s a high-class performer and it just seemed a no-brainer to add her to the band,” said Fairgray.
“She’ll come over to Australia next week, and we’ll send her to our young stallion Lucky Vega. We think she’s a great addition to our broodmare band, and we’re looking forward to breeding a number of lovely foals from her in the years to come.”
On the price, Fairgray said: “I think judging on the market we have seen at the broodmare sales this year, that is where she would have been. Those good racemares are hard to get hold of and it was good to add her to the broodmare band.”
“She’ll (Entriviere) come over to Australia next week, and we’ll send her to our young stallion Lucky Vega.” - Sam Fairgray
Top-class record
Entriviere was bred by Kevin and Kathleen Gray and purchased privately by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis. From 16 starts, she recorded seven wins and five placings, earning over NZ$725,000 in prizemoney.
She was a brilliant winner of the G1 Sistema Railway at Ellerslie on New Year's Day, having earlier snared a victory in the G2 Sheraco S. (1200 metres) in Australia during the spring, along with a win in the G3 Concorde H. the previous season.
Entriviere also finished in the frame in the G1 BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa, and from a wide draw in the G1 Doomben 10,000 in Brisbane.
A fetlock injury has brought a premature end to the racing career of the mare, leading her to be offered online as a broodmare prospect and Te Akau principal David Ellis told TDN AusNZ he was very pleased with Wednesday’s result.
“We thought she would make somewhere between NZ$800,000-NZ$1 million, so we’re very happy to get NZ$900,000 for her,” he said.
“She was a really top-class mare and she performed well at the highest level and it was great for the stable to have a mare of her quality. She was a very special mare over the last couple of seasons.
“She (Entriviere) was a really top-class mare and she performed well at the highest level and it was great for the stable to have a mare of her quality.” - David Ellis
“It was such a thrill to see her win the Railway at Ellerslie at Group 1 level, win a Group 2 in Sydney, and run such a huge race in the Doomben 10,000 as well. We’re proud of her and what she’s achieved.
“We are just thrilled for the owners, they have had a really good result and most of them have been with Te Akau now for a long time and we’re thrilled they have got such a good result.”
Continued success
Te Akau have had good success selling on the Gavelhouse Plus platform, having struck gold last year when nine-time Group 1 winner Avantage (Fastnet Rock) sold to Coolmore for an eye-watering NZ$4.1 million.
David Ellis of Te Akau Racing
Meanwhile, this is the second good result Te Akau have been handed by Yulong, with the Victorian Stud having purchased Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) for $2.6 million at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale last year.
“New Zealand Bloodstock and Gavelhouse promoted her (Entriviere) beautifully and it is great doing it this way because you get the market value,” continued Ellis.
“There were some really good judges bidding on her. It’s a shame she can’t stay in New Zealand, but it’s great to see her being bought by the same really good stud that bought Melody Belle.”
“It’s a shame she (Entriviere) can’t stay in New Zealand, but it’s great to see her being bought by the same really good stud (Yulong) that bought Melody Belle.” - David Ellis
Tavistock is carving out a good reputation as a top-class broodmare sire, with 24 of his daughters producing winners, including Lilahjay (NZ), the dam of Group 1 winner Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars).
The son of Bullbars is one of five stakes winners produced by daughters of the sire and Tavistock’s stakes winners rate fires at a healthy strike rate of 13.5 per cent.
Impressive first crop
With spring in full swing, studs up and down the country have begun welcoming foals into the world and Fairgray said they have been very impressed with Lucky Vega’s (Ire) first crop of Southern Hemisphere breds.
Lucky Vega (Ire) | Standing at Yulong
“We’re really pleased with what he’s producing. We sent a lot of mares to him last season and he is putting quality into mares that might have been a little bit plain, the foals have a lovely balance about them,” he said.
“He himself is a very neat sort of horse and is very much in the Australian sprinting mould and the foals he’s leaving are similar types.”
At the beginning of the week, Yulong decided to retire talented racemare Away Game (Snitzel) and Fairgray said the daughter of Snitzel has arrived safely back on their property, where she is now awaiting to be covered by Yulong’s headline stallion, Written Tycoon.
Recently retired Away Game is now awaiting a date with Written Tycoon | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
Baggy Green’s multiple Group 1-winning daughter Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), who was retired a few weeks ago, was covered by Written Tycoon on Tuesday, while fellow elite-level winner Hungry Heart (Frankel {GB}) has also been covered by the former Champion Sire.
The G1 Queensland Oaks scorer Winning Ways (Declaration Of War {USA}), who they purchased off the Inglis Digital August (Late) Sale for $700,000 has already been mated to their resident G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Tagaloa.
“We have started off with some of those top-end mares, which is obviously very exciting. To be able to work with these quality mares and for the stallions to have the opportunity with these sorts of mares, is obviously exciting,” said Fairgray.
“To be able to work with these quality mares and for the stallions to have the opportunity with these sorts of mares, is obviously exciting.” - Sam Fairgray
“We really look forward to the progeny out of these mares and taking them forward to yearling sales. Over the last couple of years, we have obviously grown at quite a rate, but we have a great team of people at Yulong and everyone is working towards the same goals of trying to breed and rear a couple of champions.”
